The Copper Country Mall is struggling to find retailers, a common problem among many malls in the US.

A list of current mall residents shows that much of the mall’s ground area is currently occupied by non-retail services like a state Department of Health and Human Services office and a Department of Veteran Affairs Vet Center. An indoor grow operation might be a logical use for the very large empty space.

But some national mall chain ownerships refuse to allow cannabis businesses as tenants, even in legal states. A Westfield mall location in San Francisco was recently ordered to not allow a cannabis chocolate shop by their national management, even after local management had approved the idea.

One township supervisor sounds open to as many new non-retail uses as possible in the empty mall space. "It has potential," said supervisor Bruce Peterson. "Hopefully, in the future, more businesses will locate there."

Michigan is currently a medical marijuana state, but a recreational measure has qualified for the 2018 Michigan ballot.